| Imran Khan claims ‘bags of notes’ being spent from
Islamabad’s Sindh House for horse-trading

 

SAIDU SHARIF /PESHAWAR   -  Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday came down hard on the opposition leaders for ‘pursuing the scandalous Changa Manga politics’ and warned that the coming days would prove to be defining moments in Pakistan’s history.

“I want people to come out on March 27 to show that the (whole) nation stands with the truth. We all have to decide what kind of Pakistan to be built,” PM Imran Khan said while addressing a public gathering at Saidu Sharif Grassy Ground. “As I have invited the people in Islamabad on March 27 [for a rally], the nation should come out to tell that they stand with the truth and not with the thieves, dacoits, hypocrites and slaves of America,” He said, “All the thieves are at one side. They have given me a chance to take three wickets with one ball.”

The prime minister said the “bags of notes” were being used from the Sindh House in Islamabad for horse trading and buying conscience of the members of parliament like Nawaz Sharif [former prime minister] did in Changa Manga in the past.

“Does the Constitution allow horse trading? Does any democracy in the world allow this? Is this practice allowed in the United Kingdom, the democracy to which we follow?” he remarked while posing a question to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The prime minister said the opposition parties were doing all that to protect their corruption. “They know that if Imran Khan remains in power, all of them will be in jails,” he added. He regretted that the opposition parties had decided, if they succeeded, to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law and withdraw cases against them. “They don’t even feel ashamed”, he remarked.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while referring to the opposition parties’ no-trust motion, said he would hunt down the “three mice”, which had joined hands and come out to defeat him.

He was critical of the PML-N and the PPP for raising the country’s debt four times during their 10 years of rule [2008-18] and spending public money on private foreign visits. “They protected their personal interests at the cost of country’s interest”, he remarked.

The prime minister urged the people of Swat to come out against the corrupt for the sake of country and the future of their children.

Challenging the PML-N and PPP to compare their governments’ performance with that of the PTI’s during the last over three years, he said the opposition parties feared from the country’s progress achieved by the PTI government.

The prime minister said the way his government tackled the COVID-19 pandemic situation as well as the country’s economy through successful policies was appreciated by the world.

He mentioned historic increase in the country’s exports and revenue collection, which led to the government’s decision to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per liter and electricity tariff by Rs 5 per unit.

The prime minister also mentioned the record production of wheat, maize, rice and sugarcane crops, which led to realization of additional incomes for farmers; enhanced IT sector exports; and billions tree tsunami to tackle the challenge of climate change as the present government’s achievements.

He further said the initiation of 10 dam projects, including Mohmand, Dasu and Diamer Bhasha to be completed by the years 2025 and 2028 would increase the country’s water reservoirs to help boost the agriculture sector.

The prime minister, while speaking about the corruption of PML-N and PPP governments in the past, said the sons of a thrice-elected prime minister [Nawaz Sharif] were living abroad and considered them unaccountable on the pretext that they were not Pakistani citizens.

Similarly, he said, the daughter of Nawaz Sharif, who was a beneficial owner of four apartments in London, was also unable to tell about the source of funds utilized for purchasing those apartments.

Ishaq Dar, who was also accused of corruption, and was living in London along with his sons, he mentioned.

The prime minister said Shehbaz Sharif, who was accused of corruption worth billions of rupees in the case of bank deposits of “Maqsood Chaprassi” and other servants, instead of giving reply to the court, was used to get adjournments in the case through various excuses.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his extreme pleasure over the unanimous adoption of a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on Islamophobia by the UN General Assembly and appreciated the efforts of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at UN in that regard.

Imran Khan told the gathering how he forcefully raised and highlighted the issue of Islamophobia; Muslims sentiments on the blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and linking terrorism with Islam or Muslims at various international fora including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations.

He said that the adoption of resolution by the UN General Assembly, which declared March 15 to be observed as a day against Islamophobia, was a major a success for Pakistan after 1973 when the country’s parliament declared Qadianis as a non-Muslim minority.

The prime minister questioned as if the opposition parties, especially Nawaz Sharif, the thrice-elected prime minister, raised the issue of Islamophobia at UN or OIC.  “When he [Nawaz Sharif] met US President with [pre-written] notes in his hands, he should have had a slip about Islamophobia or Kashmir,” he remarked.

Imran Khan questioned why Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was religion for politics for the last 30 years, did not raise the issue of Islamopobia. He, however, added that the slaves had had no faith but their money.

The prime minister regretted and described the decision of the High Court of India’s Karnataka state against “hijab” as Islamophobia.

He also criticized the PML-N and PPP leadership for not condemning or protesting over the 400 drone attacks in Pakistani trial areas during 2008 to 2018, which led the killing of innocent people including women and children

The prime minister said that only those leaders, who did not have their assets and properties abroad, stood against the powerful countries.

“Today, the assets of Russia’s bigwigs have been frozen by the US and West”, he said and added that the leaders, who had their stolen assets or funds aboard, were forced to bow down their heads.